Can dogs track animal trails

[Kaned Dragon]

Can the dogs track animals via the foot prints and disturbed vegetation markers. I've only noticed a tracking option for the blood trails?

Would be great for hunting without footprints effects.

[Turcox]

Just blood i think

[SouthernMan1972]

Yes, true to it's name, the bloodhound only tracks blood. I would definitely recommend playing with tracks turned off anyway. I was already doing this before getting a dog as were several others I've noticed. Just pick a destination, walk towards it (don't run), and use binoculars often to find your targets and sneak into position for a good shot.

For me, this has been a much more fun way to do it without all of the glowing track lights everywhere. I have the HUD and all markers off as well.

The dog can alert you when you are getting close to an animal, or when a predatory animal is near so he's not useless when he's not tracking blood. I think if they actually tracked any footprints you find, that would be a little too easy.

[Kaned Dragon]

Originally posted by SouthernMan1972:

Yes, true to it's name, the bloodhound only tracks blood. I would definitely recommend playing with tracks turned off anyway. I was already doing this before getting a dog as were several others I've noticed. Just pick a destination, walk towards it (don't run), and use binoculars often to find your targets and sneak into position for a good shot.

For me, this has been a much more fun way to do it without all of the glowing track lights everywhere. I have the HUD and all markers off as well.

The dog can alert you when you are getting close to an animal, or when a predatory animal is near so he's not useless when he's not tracking blood. I think if they actually tracked any footprints you find, that would be a little too easy.

Dang I was hoping I missed an option. I'm guessing dogs in RL can't track animals in the manner I'm describing?

I used to play with the tracks off, but slowly switched them back on after some time. To many times I'd walk past some tracks or track a specific male and the track would merge with a herd. There's no way to select a previous track without going back to it, and I have to select the track I'm over to see what it is. The tracking can be nearly impossible in some biomes. I made a post about it years ago, I’ll try and find it sometime.

It is awesome though, you go from following the twinkly lights too actually thinking and analysis, finding the clues looking for those tiny details. The landscapes and vistas pop out. Every shot is more important. But it’s makes the hunting harder and less fruitful, and when I only have a certain number of hours in the evenings and I'm kinda tired from work,,, Yeah on with the lights and hud. After some time I left them on. Apart from personal satisfaction there's no reward for having them off.

I find the critical position trait doesn’t really make a big impact. So far It's only happened when I’m already engaging an animal and the wind is at my back alerting it, or I'm already close enough that I know it’s there. It hasn’t alerted me to an animal I don’t know that’s there.

I know the dog does indicate it’s found scat, but if the hud isn’t on and the dog description box is off, I wouldn’t notice if the dog found anything. I haven’t noticed if the dog makes a sound when it finds scat. I might have just not noticed it.

Would be great if I could go up to where the dog finds some scat and select it and then get the dog to track that animal. Use the same tracking method for blood, but much slower, so the dog doesn’t run but walk the characters speed, or keep a certain distance in front. Then slows right down and gives a subtle quiet bark and make that classic point pose dogs make in old cartoons to let me know we're close to that animals or the herd.

Would make the whole playing without the assists more accessible to players like myself.

[Pete Gaimari]

What's the difference in following glowing tracks or following the dog? Neither are realistic.

[Kaned Dragon]

Originally posted by petegaimari:

What's the difference in following glowing tracks or following the dog? Neither are realistic.

What's the point in having a dog that tracks, tracks that I can already see and track. Following a dog that can smell something I can't see would at least be different to following the flashing trail.
The game isn't super realistic anyway, and that would be fun.

[Pete Gaimari]

Using a dog to track big game is illegal in my state. What does that tell you? Do you want to keep it somewhat real or do you just want to blast away at more animals?

[Falcon]

Originally posted by Kaned Dragon:

Originally posted by petegaimari:

What's the difference in following glowing tracks or following the dog? Neither are realistic.

What's the point in having a dog that tracks, tracks that I can already see and track. Following a dog that can smell something I can't see would at least be different to following the flashing trail.
The game isn't super realistic anyway, and that would be fun.

I don't want the dog tracking down game for me. It's my job to find and shoot the animals.

[Kaned Dragon]

Originally posted by petegaimari:

Using a dog to track big game is illegal in my state. What does that tell you? Do you want to keep it somewhat real or do you just want to blast away at more animals?

Is that the case for all states in america? How about the other country's based in the game? In RL can a dog track animal there?
I would like to play the game (hunt) with the glow particles and other players assists off, the problem is the game wasn't designed with that in mind. So even tho you can totally hunt with no HUD or particle effects on the tracks, there are times when you really need them on.

For instance when tracking an animal and the animals tracks merge with a herd, it becomes very time consuming to keep track of the animal your after.
Having the dog be able to help track would help and I personally think it would be fun.

Also I don't need the dog to help me get more harvests, but it would be nice to have the option to do things differently.

Of course the devs could simply add a quick toggle for the HUD and particle effects.

[Kaned Dragon]

Originally posted by Falcon:

Originally posted by Kaned Dragon:

What's the point in having a dog that tracks, tracks that I can already see and track. Following a dog that can smell something I can't see would at least be different to following the flashing trail.
The game isn't super realistic anyway, and that would be fun.

I don't want the dog tracking down game for me. It's my job to find and shoot the animals.

That's fine, it's your choice how to play the game as you'd like.
But would be nice to have more options on how one would like to do the hunt.

[kubanskiloewe]

never followed any track in this game....waste of time. animals warn you and you call them; works perfect.

[Pete Gaimari]

Originally posted by kubanskiloewe:

never followed any track in this game....waste of time. animals warn you and you call them; works perfect.

Too easy. It's not the kill but the hunt you should be proud of.

[FoZ]

The current dog will "track prey" only if it doesn't die from the first shot. It's an extremely useful feature because when you are tracking the animal it's very common to get confused with which track is the new or old and the dog will just take you straight to the animal and depending on level it also has a chance to highlight it for you!

In theHunter Classic, we have the pointer, it won't follow a specific "track" but it will find random animals and point at them. Great for small game and to give a sense where animals are. For COTW I'd love to see it, maybe with some changes that will actually follow a track instead of random animals. Since we have "need zones" it wouldn't be as useful if it's just looking out randomly.

[Pete Gaimari]

For the record. Hounds can track animals. They don't need blood. That's how bear and mountain lions are hunted in some states. I assume a bloodhound can do it too. A bloodhound can track a human if you just let them smell a piece of clothing from the person you want to track.

So, hounds don't need blood to track. However, it would make the game too easy if it was like that. It would then be like HS2. Maybe that's why the bloodhound can only track blood in game.

[FoZ]

I think it would be cool if they added this as a trait that you unlock...shouldn't be that hard, code wise.. considering the dog already does it to a certain extent.